By Zhang Mengying
Investing.com – Asia-Pacific stocks were mostly up on Thursday morning, investors assessed the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s June meeting which showed the central bank’s determination to tackle inflation.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.24% by 10:55 PM ET (0255 GMT).
South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.73%.
In Australia, the ASX 200 rose 0.35%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.49%.
China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.35% while the Shenzhen Component was up 0.47%.
The minutes from the Fed’s June meeting suggested the possibility of an “even more restrictive” monetary policy to prevent long-lasting inflation. Now investors have priced in another 75-basis point interest rate hike in July from the Fed.
Investors are grappling with threats from soaring prices and a gloomy economic outlook amid tightening monetary policies.
Over the last couple of weeks “all asset classes have been giving us a unified message, which is slower growth is coming ahead,” Edward Jones & Co. senior investment strategist Mona Mahajan told Bloomberg.
Data released on Wednesday showed that U.S. job openings dropped slightly in May but remained near a record, pointing to resilient demand for labor.
In Asia-Pacific, the People’s Bank of China is expected to withdraw cash from the financial system, suggesting that it’s moving toward normalizing monetary policy.
Elsewhere, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he will not resign as Conservative leader and prime minister although some ministers have quit.